Remembering to Run
by Contagious-Anime-Obsession
Summary: After they got back after 7 years, Lucy cried to her guild, her friends, her father, and her lost time. But when it came to crying about Loki, she did much more than that.
1. Chapter 1

Lucy thought she'd cried all the tears she could. For her return to the guild after seven years. For what they had gone through with Zeref. For her father. But now, before she knew it, she was crying again.

Before they had left, she hadn't let it show how much she missed Loki. To make herself feel better, she would just pretend he was on a mission. But now she couldn't.

She remembered. The drop in her stomach everytime he ran away from her. Even now that she knew about Karren, it still made her feel bad. She couldn't stop remembering how he hugged her, and then lied so that she didn't have to get involved, the grape milk they'd shared, and all the effort that she had put into saving him...just to have him still taken away from her.

She would never be able to love him. Her feelings were useless. He was a Celestial Spirit, a gold gate at that! He was out of her reach, except for their contract, who only use seemed to be plunging a dagger into her heart every time she looked at his key. She wondered how she could get over it. And she had no idea.

So, she did what she did best.

She got up, grabbed her bag, and ran.


	2. Chapter 2

Thee next started a little like this.

"Natsu, have you seen Lucy?" Levy asked him as he was shoveling food into his face. He shook his head no. "She's probably still at home. I'll go see her." Levy said, mostly to herself. She took off at a run from the guild's front door, and got to Lucy's a few minutes later. Using the key that Lucy had given her when they first became friends, she let herself in.

"Lucy-chan! Lucy, are you home!" she yelled. _No answer. "_Lucy-chan! Lucy-ch..." Levy stopped suddenly when she saw the letter. Slowly, tears dripped down her face, but she smiled at the same time.

"You ran away again, Lucy-chan." Levy said outloud. "The feelings were too overwhelming, just like when you ran away from home. But no one cared enough to run after you last time. This time, I swear, we'll get you back."

Lucy walked back into the guild. The tears had not stopped, and she was moving slow; she was still in shock. Of course, no one noticed the tiny girl. Not even her two team mates. Until...

_Bump_. "Opps, sorry Levy." Laxus said , after almost toppling her over. Then he paused. "Are you okay, Levy?" She was going to say she was fine, but the way he said her name without honorifics made her snap out of her shock. She burst into tears and hugged Luxus. The entire guild stopped, looking at the unusual emotions coming from the bookworm and Lightning Dragon-slayer.

Jet and Droy were frozen, looking at their "Beloved Levy-Chan." Natsu was about to faint at the sight of Laxus hugging someone (well, he was really being hugged).

"What's wrong, Levy?" Laxus asked after a moment. Levy sniffed and stepped back. She looked up at Master, who was looking down at her from the 2nd floor.

"Lucy ran away!" she cried.


	3. Chapter 3

The silence in the guild was deafening. No one even dared move. Until, all at once, everything broke into havoc.

"What!"

"No! Lucy-san!"

"Are you sure?"

"Erza, there you are! Did you hear" Lisanna said, hurrying over to the red head, who had just walked in. "What's going on?" Erza said, looking worried. Before she got a response, she walked over to Levy, who still had a death grip on Laxus.

"Levy-san. Where did Lucy go?" Titania asked the bookworm. The tone in here voice was surprising. It sounded so sweet and kind, as if she was talking tio a crying child. Erza knew, of all people, Levy would know what was going on. "Lucy-chan ran away." Levy replied, in a childish yet emotionless voice. Erza hadn't heard that voice since they were children. "And where did she run away to?" Erza asked in the same voice.

Without replying, the blue-haired bookworm detached herself from Laxus. "I have a letter i'm suppose to read to you guys." she said, whipping away tears. The master, now standing in front of her, nodded. "Then do so."

From her pocket, she pulled out the letter. She starred at the guild for a moment. Oh, how tiny it had become. Before, she couldn't even tell you half the names of the people in fairy tail. But now, she knew them all with easy. Looking down at the paper, she began to read:

_Dear Fairy Tail,_

_You are my home. But I have run away from my home before. I AM sorry, because I'm so selfish. But sometimes a person can't help it._

_Natsu, our guild will be fine without me. I hope you add a certain guild-returnee to Team Natsu, like you've been wanting to do. _

_Erza, I'll use the stuff you taught me well. Remember, you don't always have to be strong. It's okay to just take the armor off sometimes; literally and metephoriclly. _

_Grey, work hard. I hope you reach your dream of beating Leon's butt. Next time you see him, whip that stupid smirk off his face for me, even if you DO have the exact same one on yours all the time._

_Lisanna, take care of the Hot-Head for me, would you? Don't let him burn down the guild, and try to keep the number of destroyed towns to a minimum. _

_Levy, I have a favor to ask of you:_

_ Give Natsu the key to my house, so he doesn't have to always break in, even though I'm not living there anymore._

_ Give Erza my keys, I need someone to take care of them. I can't stand to see them right now, but I took Cancer, Gemini, and Plue with me._

_Give Grey the journal I always draw in, I want him to see it._

_Give Lisanna my journal, so she can see what I have seen of Fairy Tail. _

_And you, Levy, get to have that box you like. It's full of stories._

_Bye, guys._

_ Love, Lucy._


	4. Chapter 4

The letter was touching. Everyone walked away, sad and quiet. They needed time to mourn. Natsu, Erza, Grey, and Lisanna moved to stand next to Levy. "It's okay, Levy." Lisanna said, hugging the girl from the side.

Levy nodded, her eyes red from crying. "Here," She said reaching into her bag. She pulled out two sets or keys. A plain set, she handed to Natsu; the keys to the house. The other she gave to Erza; Lucy's Celestial Keys. Then she withdrew two journals. A small pink one she gave to Lisanna and a larger, leather one she gave to Grey.

Grey opened the journal that was given to him. "Woo!" he said, his breath taken away. The very first drawing in the leather book was the first guild hall. The date on the bottom of the page was the day she entered into the guild.

Slowly, with Natsu, Erza, Lisanna, and Levy crowding around him to look too, he flipped through the book. There was a pencil sketching of the Master, short yet strong. Then there was Mira and Elfman, standing next to each other. There was a sketch or Levy, Natsu, Erza, and Grey. There was a picture of her keys, and different monsters they had beaten. One of Lyon and Sherry; of Laxus; of Jet and Droy. Throughout the book, Levy and Team Natsu were reacurring subjects. But there was one other.

Loke.

There was him surrounded by girls, him using his ring power, or sitting at the guild bar. Loke in the battle against the guild Lucy's father had sent after her then some. There was one, just before the drawings of him dressed as Leo, of him near a waterfall with the king of the Spirits behind him. It was so dramatic, that all of her friends caught her breath.

"She told me about that." Erza said, in a voice barely over a whisper. "She talked, or rather argued, the Spirit King into letting him back into the Spirit Realm. But she didn't draw herself in this picture." Erza finished, sounding both curious and confused. "She never draws herself." Levy said, sounding a little sad. "Never has."

Levy took the book from Grey. _This_ is why she ran away. She said, holding the book up for them to see a amazing portrait of Leo aka Loke. "If he hurt her feelings, I'll kick his ass." Grey said, making a fist. "Not before I do." Yelled Natsu. "They are SO not getting it." Lisanna said, shaking her head. "You can say that again." Erza said, smiling slightly.

"I'm gonna get her back." Levy said, sounding stern and kind at the same time. "I agree." Erza said, smiling at the bookworm. "But I think we need to take it in steps. We need to give her time, figure out EVERYTHING about why she ran away, and then come up with a plan to track her down. It may take a few weeks, but we WILL get her to come back." Erza said. Lisanna nodded, agreeing, and the three hugged.

Laxus was feeling a little smug. It wasn't everyday you successfully easedropped on Fairy Tail's Titania. And, even less common, was the fact that you learned something useful in helping a certain pretty little blue-haired bookworm.


	5. Chapter 5

**Random little thing I thought up to put in here. I'm debating if I should put in a chapter about what Lucy is doing, or to keep her out of it until the others meet up with her again.**

* * *

Now, if you think Laxus cannot sing and skip when he's overly happy…you are right. I believe it is physically impossible. Or maybe just morally wrong.

But he DOES challenge Natsu to a battle that the Salamander has no chance of winning.

Next time, though, he shouldn't do it anywhere near a very tired, distressed, and magically-enhanced-glasses wearing bookwork reading peacefully under a tree.

Not the best of ideas.

"Runt! Wanna dual?" he said, grinning like an idiot from ear to ear. He had just overheard that Levi wanted to find Lucy, yesterday, and was very happy because it had opened up an opportunity for him to get closer to her. Because, seeing as Fairy Tail is the home of all things backwards, the hot, buff, popular Lightning Dragon Slayer had a huge crush on our tiny little, blue-haired bookworm Levy.

But of course Natsu, being as level headed as he is, turned down the fight. NOT! In no world I any part of that sentence even possible.

So they had a big, very dramatic, extremely distructive match like usual. But when Laxus blocked one of Natsu's attacks, it rebounded and hit a tree. The tree that Levi was sitting against cracked and feel, nearly crushing the little book work. She jumped out of the way in plenty of time, but the tree smushed both her books and her magic glasses.

The two dragon slayers stopped, frozen, and looked at her. Trembling with anger, Levy raised a hand. Above their heads appeared several of Levy's newest magic skills. Including, but not limited to:

Solid Script Rock

Solid Script Water

Solid Script Oil

Solid Script Electricity

Levy then walked away, extremely annoyed, to go tell Erza that the two idiots had just ruined the gift the red-head had given her was now squished.

So, not the best way to get the girl. Not even a good way. It's the worst possible way to get the girl. But Hey, at least he got her attention!

Other than those three, the rest of the guild had spent the day trying to get back to normal. Juvia seemed still depressed, and when Mira asked her why she wasn't happy her "love rival" was gone, Juvia told her fighting Lucy was the main way for her to get Grey's attention.

Levy had been reading Lucy's story, along with the present Erza had given her for her birthday (she's a multi-tasker) until the latter got squished. Thankfully, Lucy's story had been saved. Other than Natsu, no one knew what the other's were doing, because the simply hadn't shown up at all the day.


End file.
